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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “3rd party scripts”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “3rd party scripts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

تقویم فارسی – Persian Calendar shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #5 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Flying Scripts: Delay JavaScript to Improve Site Speed & Performance 30K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #2 3 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #3 ↑2 4 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #4 ↓2 5 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #12 ↑1 7 too low 6 iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more 200K+ · 4.7★ (397) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 GDPR Cookie Compliance – Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice for CCPA, EU Cookie Law 300K+ · 4.6★ (205) wp.org #8 ↓2 1 too low 8 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #13 ↓5 4 too low 10 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Download Monitor 80K+ · 4.5★ (525) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too low 12 Beautiful Cookie Consent Banner 40K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14 Strong Testimonials 80K+ · 4.8★ (614) wp.org #21 ↓1 7 too low 15 GDPRess | Eliminate external requests to increase GDPR compliance 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) 10K+ · 4.0★ (116) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 Seraphinite Accelerator 50K+ · 4.8★ (476) wp.org #24 ↓2 5 too low 20 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 تقویم فارسی – Persian Calendar 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 Swift Performance Lite 6K+ · 3.6★ (125) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 Cookiez – GDPR & CCPA Cookie Banner & Consent Manager 50K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too high 24 atec Dir Scan 60+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↑1 4 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.